The Swedes Try to Sweep, Class Titles Go Down to the Wire, and Epic Final Passes to Wrap Up Sick Week!
With Thursday and Gainesville Raceway in the rear-view mirror, Sick Week 2023 Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive would make the drive to return back to Orlando “Sick” World Dragway for the final day to wrap up an epic week.
Sick Week started with 332 competitors, and by the time the rolling show returned to Orlando, 92 entrants were out of competition.
In the Unlimited category, it had been an all-Swede affair since day two, with Michael Westberg and Stefan Gustafsson trading shots back and forth. Westberg took command on day two with a 6.40-time slip, and continued to extend the gap between himself and the defending champ.
Gustafsson stayed close with a 6.55 on day three and a 6.56 on day four, but Westberg closed the door for good with a 6.435 at 216 mph to complete the week and compile a 6.46 average. Gustafsson tallied a 6.59 average for second, and Jason Pickett averaged an 8.47 with his ’93 Buick hearse for third.
It was a bittersweet victory for Westberg, as the 1991 S-10 was going to a new owner just three days later as a rolling chassis, while Westberg will retain the driveline for a new chassis he will debut in Sweden later this year.
The Unlimited Iron class started the week with three cars capable of a six-second pass. But by the end of the week, it was Alex Taylor who had survived with four 6-second passes to her credit.
A six wasn’t in the cards on the final day, but a 7.09 pass on the final day meant Alex still got her first six-second average, a 6.98, and the Unlimited Iron class win to go with it. Tina Pierce rode her ’66 Nova to a 7.23 average for second place, and Robert Bartram landed third thanks to an 8.85 average.
Much like Unlimited Iron, the Modified class had three cars capable of a six-second pass at the start of Sick Week. Brett LaSala started the week at the helm of the class with a 6.56 at 212 mph, and the Mustang known as Snot Rocket 2.0 continued that pace all week.
There was one 7.0-second pass, a 7.03 coming at South Georgia, but LaSala rebounded for 6-second runs in Gainesville and Orlando, earning a 6.74 average, the quickest ever on a radial tire, and the win. Mikael Borggren repeated his second-place finish from 2022, and Bob Hess Jr. claimed the third spot.
The Pro Street class featured a pair of former drag-and-drive class champions, and until the final day, Clark Rosenstengel looked to be on his way to another class title.
But driveline problems limited him to a 12.52 final pass, opening the door for Clint Sodowsky, and he made his quickest run of the week at 7.651 to cap his average at 7.69 and earn the win.
One of two new classes added for 2023, Super Street had nearly half the cars in the class make at least one seven-second pass. A close battle between Eric Yost, Bradley Arnold, and Andrew Dopita kept everyone watching, but in the end, Yost picked up the orange helmet when his 7.46 average held off the 7.53 average of Arnold and the 7.54 of Dopita.
From the chatter leading up to the event, Stick Shift looked to become a seven-second class. But when both seven-second capable cars were out by the end of day two, Canadian Richard Guido stepped up to the plate.
He delivered an eight-second pass at every track, delivered his best pass on day two at Bradenton with an 8.75 at 162 mph, and averaged an 8.84 to repeat as the Stick Shift champion before driving his ’65 Pontiac GTO back to the snowy north. Zachary Wicks was awarded the Quickest Non-V8 Stick Shift win with his 1997 Jeep Wrangler.
The Naturally Aspirated class always bring a unique blend of cars and engines, but from the word go, James ‘Doc’ McEntire would lead the pack. The lone car to run in the seven-second range at each stop, McEntire’s ‘See Red’ ’68 Camaro produced a best of 7.71 at 173 mph on the way to a 7.83 average to claim his second-straight Sick Week title.
Matt Sweet finished second with his big block ’76 Nova, and the high-winding small block Camaro of Jason Tabscott came in third. Tabscott also picked up the Quickest Modified class award, while McEntire bagged the Quickest Pro Street award. Andrew Taylor snagged the Quickest Small Block Street Race award, Guy Protano got the Quickest Big Block Street Race award, and Steven Willingham pocketed the Quickest Super Street class win.
The second new class on the Sick Week roster for 2023 was Rowdy Radial, and the talk of what could happen in this class on the eighth-mile with a 235 radial was epic. Devin Vanderhoof was amongst the favorites, and the turbocharged big block Mustang took control from day one, being one of only two cars in the four-second range.
Sheldon Root was the other car in the fours, and the ’62 Pontiac Acadian tried to stay close. But Vanderhoof and driver Jordan Tuck produced a best of 4.59 at 167 mph in route to a 4.64 average to deny Root’s 4.81 average for the title.
Sick Week Freaks gives the 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder and diesel rides a place to shine. For Tony Niemczyk and his ’95 Eclipse, he returned to defend his 2022 Sick Week title. Improving on his 9.23 average one year ago, Niemczyk posted an eight-second pass at each track, including a personal best of 8.71 at 153 mph, giving him an 8.76 average and a second orange helmet for his win, as well as the Quickest 4-Cylinder title. Quickest 6-Cylinder went to Ben Neal with his ’87 Toyota Cresta with a 9.08 average, and Quickest Diesel was Jessie Harris thanks to a 9.69 average.
The Hot Rod / Gasser / Beetle category was led by Larry West in his show-quality 1941 Willys, averaging out a 10.03 to claim the top spot overall, as well as the Hot Rod class title. James Holth picked up the win in the Beetle class with his Karmann Ghia averaging an 11.65 average, and Robert Leavens snagged the top spot in the Gasser class with a 12.11 average in his 1965 Chevy II.
The Street Race 275 class was a nail-biter entering the final day, as defending champ William Lujan and Jordan Boudreaux were separated by a mere one thousandth of-a-second apart as they enter the final stage in Orlando. Neither car made a pass quicker than 8.54 at the close of the lanes, and when the averages were tabulated, Lujan would pick up the title via an 8.542 average over the so-close 8.543 average from Jordan Boudreaux.
Similar to the Street Race 275 class, the Sick Street Race class also had a close battle between Dustin Trance and Aaron Shaffer as the final day dawned. Shaffer held a one hundredth of-a-second advantage in averages, and when both Shaffer and Trance delivered 8.51 passes on the final day, it solidified the class win for Shaffer.
The Dial Your Own (DYO) class was a tight one, with multiple competitors showing remarkable consistency over a slew of different weather and track conditions. A mere five thousandths of-a-second separated the top three, and Wilfredo Blanco got the top spot with a .046 of-a-second spread between five time slips from the different tracks. Richard Arbitelle and Todd Roy finished second and third respectively.
The Pro Dial Your Own class focuses on drivers that run 9.99 and quicker in the quarter-mile, again with an emphasis on consistency. Fifteen thousandths of-a-second separated the top three in this class, with Nicholas Desimine’s .034 of-a-second spread between his five time slips getting the nod over TJ Linebaugh in second and Nick Weigand in third place.
The Sick Bulls-Eye Challenge awards a different winner at each track based on how close they can get to a random bulls-eye number each day. The winners were:
Douglas Fisher – Day 1 – Orlando Speed World
Jeremy Tapscott – Day 2 – Bradenton Motorsports Park
Robert Sharp – Day 3 – South Georgia Motorsports Park
Rick Doern – Day 4 – Gainesville Raceway
Cole Harvey – Day 5 – Orlando Speed World
Several “Quickest” awards were also presented:
Quickest Without a Trailer – Bob Hess Jr.
Quickest Chevrolet – Michael Westberg
Quickest Ford – Brett LaSala
Quickest Pontiac – Nick Weigand
Quickest Mopar – Paul Castiglione
Quickest Buick – Grant Martin
Quickest Oldsmobile – Rajveer Ahuja
Carl Stancell was the recipient of the “Sickest of the Sick” award, completing a comeback from a crash last year in his 1984 Chevrolet Blazer.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick The Magazine.